Ayahuasca Ecuador

Ecuador Ayahuasca Retreat

Casa Del Sol’s Ecuador ayahuasca retreats are devoted to providing people the opportunity to immerse themselves to the healing and personal growth benefits that can be achieved with the ancient plant medicine, ayahuasca.

Our retreat center is located in the heart of Vilcabamba, Ecuador and attracts people from all around the world each year who seek to grow as an individual, figure out their life purpose, heal themselves from past emotional traumas, physical illnesses, mental conditions or to develop a stronger spiritual connection.

Santiago, our experienced ayahuasca retreat shaman, will guide you through your personal journey and help you achieve your personal intentions.

Why Casa Del Sol?

Our Ecuador Ayahuasca retreats are run by a tested-and-true veteran shaman. There are many reasons why Santiago is qualified to lead an ayahuasca retreat.

First and foremost, Santiago has lived in the center of Vilcabamba, Ecuador for well over 17 years. During Santiago’s time on the lands, he has devised an environment optimized for spiritual exploration, self-growth, and reflection. He has carefully constructed an area suitable to hold these sacred ceremonies. In these areas where he holds the ceremonies, Santiago passes down his blessings and indigenous teachings.

Experience and his close acquaintance with the plants are another reason why Santiago is perfectly suited to lead an Ayahuasca retreat. Santiago has worked with plant medicines since 1993 and has been running ceremonies since 2003.

Since Santiago has been running ceremonies for a long time, he has seen it all. With his experience, Santiago will act as a safeguard for you and other attendees as you all explore the greatest depths of your consciousness.

Santiago is also certified by the government in Ecuador to be a shaman. This means he meets all the legal requirements and follows all of the ethical guidelines when he organizes and runs Ayahuasca ceremonies. Shamans in Peru do not need to be licensed in order to practice shamanism nor run ayahuasca ceremonies. This lack of regulation in Peru has caused many issues in regards to safety for ayahuasca ceremony participants. Knowing that your shaman is licensed by the government and that they follow set legal procedures can give you some peace of mind when you participate in a retreat.

In short, his strong relationship with the sacred plants, experience leading retreats, and connection with the lands allows Santiago to lead powerful, life-changing, ayahuasca ceremonies.

At Casa Del Sol, we understand ayahuasca ceremonies are a valuable tool for self-growth, spiritual awakenings, and healing. Thus, it is extremely important to us that we focus on giving attendees a traditional, authentic ayahuasca retreat experience.

Unlike other Ayahuasca retreat centers in South America, we limit our retreats to 10 people. This is so because we believe in giving attendees personal attention. By limiting the retreat size, we can better dedicate our attention to help our attendees achieve whatever intentions they set forth prior to the ceremony. Ayahuasca ceremonies are sacred and we believe it is not just about giving the participants Ayahuasca. We wholeheartedly believe in giving our attendees individual attention as well as delivering the most genuine Ayahuasca ceremony experience filled with live music, ancient songs, and traditional ceremony protocols.

Call or message us today to inquire about participating in an ayahuasca retreat. Spots do fill up fast so we recommend you book your spot far in advance to guarantee your spot.

What's Included in the Ayahuasca Retreat?

Ayahuasca Ceremonies - Ayahuasca ceremonies are held in the proclaimed “Dojo”, a bungalow outside organized for Ayahuasca ceremonies. Mats, blankets, and pillows are provided to stay warm as the ceremony lasts from sun fall to sunrise. In the center of the Dojo, a fire will be burning in the fireplace the whole night. As the night progresses, attendees will share their intentions for taking the ancient medicine. During the ceremony, Santiago will serenade participants in ancient South American songs, distribute the herbal medicine, and pass down his teachings.

San Pedro Ceremonies - San Pedro ceremonies will be held in the hut as well as be held during hikes. The herbal medicine will be distributed during the hike to the cleansing waterfall with the purpose to reconnect with nature and explore their consciousness. Personal sharing sessions will be held during the San Pedro hut ceremonies to help participants deeply reflect on their lives.

Sweat Lodge Ceremony - attendees will participate in a traditional sweat lodge ceremony. Sweat lodge ceremonies are a common ceremony practiced by many Native Americans to cleanse or heal one’s spirit. The sweat lodge is a sealed small hut filled with hot stones to clean and purify attendees prior to a ceremony. Typically, fasting is done prior to and during the ceremony.

Tobacco Ceremony - Tobacco ceremonies is one of the most long-established ways to reconnect with nature, ancestors, and spirits. Rapé, a powerful cleansing tobacco, will be given to attendees to inhale. Rapé has many benefits including sharpening mental acuity, cleansing the mind and body, clearings one’s sinuses, provide a calming effect, treat some colds or other ailments. Its detoxing effects is a big reason why rapé is often used in conjunction with San Pedro and Ayahuasca ceremonies.

Energetic Womb River Cleansing - Women participating in the retreat will be given the opportunity to dip themselves into the energetic womb river cleansing. Women will be led to the river and bathe for purification of their wombs.

Mountain treks to the sacred mountains and waterfalls.

Personal Sharing Workshops - During these sessions, participants are encouraged to be vulnerable, deeply reflect on their lives, and share their struggles with the other members in the retreat. This is where attendees will receive feedback and be supported.

Yoga Classes - There will be an instructional yoga session held to teach attendees relaxation techniques and how to do yoga. Yoga is a great tool to use to help treat many physical and mental ailments such as chronic back pain, arthritis or headaches or stress. Participants will be taught how to relieve stress while increasing their flexibility.

The Cost of an Ayahuasca Retreat

Our Ayahuasca retreats vary in length of time and therefore different in costs. Casa Del Sol offers retreats that last for 4 days, 8 days, and 12 days. Longer retreats will have more activities and naturally a higher cost.

When one participates in Casa Del Sol’s Ayahuasca retreat, they will be given various other herbal medicines and presented and an assortment of activities other than just Ayahuasca ceremonies.

What Ingredients are in Ayahuasca?

Ayahuasca is a life-altering medicine from the Amazon that has been used and leveraged for many centuries by many tribes as well as spiritual leaders. The hallucinogenic brew has built a reputation as a miracle medicine. The plant unlocks the spirit world and shows you your deepest purpose in life, a path to inner peace, a better understanding of the universe, and who you genuinely are.

Ayahuasca is composed of Banisteriopsis Caapi vine, Chacruna, and various other ingredients. The concoction was used as a spiritual medicine in ceremonies by the indigenous populations of the Amazon Basin. Ayahuasca is unlike anything else as the beverage relies on the interactions between the active ingredients of the different plants in the brew for a powerful hallucinogenic experience.

Common Effects:

Alterations to one’s consciousness

Close and open-eyed visuals

Distorted perception of time

Intense spiritual experiences

The main substance inside Chacruna is a neurotransmitter found deep within all human beings. The neurotransmitter is called dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and plays an imperative role in bringing humans into supernatural, extraordinary states of consciousness.

The plant’s effects can last anywhere from 4 to 8 hours depending on the amount one takes. The strength of the ayahuasca experience varies from batch to batch. Because of this, it is tough to anticipate the effects of herbal medicine.

Benefits of Taking and Participating in Ayahuasca Ceremonies

The sacred plant has a long history of being used as an instrument to communicate with nature, instill the need to grow, reveal illnesses on a spiritual level, and open one’s consciousness for a better understanding of the universe.

Ayahuasca lets people who consume it reflect deeply on their lives. Past retreat participants have seen tremendous improvements in their own personal and spiritual development as well as living life more honest with themselves. Participants have claimed to have a clearer life purpose and direction after taking the herbal brew. People often think deeply about the stress in their lives or dissonance in living a life true to their heart. After acknowledging the gap in their way of living and a life true to themselves, participants will begin to pursue a life more honest with themselves. Hence after the experience, ceremony goers claim to have more inner peace or satisfaction.

Ayahuasca has been known to have very practical benefits as well. The herbal medicine has great stress relieving effects. The stress relieving effects occur because you will become more aware of the negative stresses or detrimental energies in your life and will naturally eliminate it.

You may even get to see the universe in its rawest form--energy. You could possibly connect with the universe on a spirit-to-spirit and energy-to-energy level. After, you will likely realize that all things made up in this world are made up from energy. People, animals, plants or any physical objects are composed of energy. This will cause you to begin to question what energy they are releasing into the universe and what kind of energy they are surrounding yourself in.

Substantial progress will be made in your spirituality with Ayahuasca. Ayahuasca ceremonies allow you to gain access to the spiritual world. You can explore another dimension other than the one you know as reality. The ayahuasca experience is a very interactive one since you will be able to communicate with the hallucinations and the spirits revealed from the plant. You can talk to and ask the spirits within your consciousness for life purpose answers or just about any other questions you may have lingering in your head.

Therapeutic Benefits Of Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca and various other plant medicines have been known to treat a large variety of mental, emotional, and physical disorders.

Shamans distribute ayahuasca to see what is causing a person’s illness on a spiritual level. The resourceful medicinal plant has been used as a healing tool to treat many conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addictions, depression, anxiety, guilt from sexual abuse and various other mental or physical ailments.

The plant will reveal to a person what they need to see determined by where the person is in their emotional life to heal. Ceremony participants have stated that their symptoms have diminished or completely ceased after taking the herbal medicine.

The concoction has seen treatments in physical disorders such as fevers, addictions, alcoholism, diabetes, high blood pressure, hepatitis, and issues with joints and other health-threatening conditions.

Our ayahuasca shamans have helped hundreds of people overcome their physical or mental illnesses through ceremonies. Get started with your journey of healing today by contacting our ayahuasca retreat shamans at Casa Del Sol.

History Of Ayahuasca in Ecuador

Ayahuasca ceremonies and the Shipibo tradition of plant medicine provide an incredibly effective way to achieve balance, harmony, and happiness. Our way is a truly holistic approach to healing the body, mind, and spirit. Our healing methods are rooted in ancestral traditions, respect for nature, and plant spirit wisdom. This is a better way.

Ayahuasca is a revered and respected sacred medicine. It is considered a spiritual and physiological remedy for all purposes. This is because this medicine can instruct the drinker in their own healing, can give them visionary insight, and aid them in the remedy of psychological imbalances.

Ayahuasca, or Yage, are traditional native names from the Amazon for a particular vine found in the Amazon jungle, otherwise known by its botanical name, Banisteriopsis Caapi. Ayahuasca is used throughout the Amazon by Ayahuasqueros and Curanderos (shaman), in order to access the visionary, mythological or spiritual realms, and for physical, mental and spiritual healing.

For indigenous people such as the Shippibo tribes of Peru, Ayahuasca is “the Mother of all Medicines”. Other indigenous peoples regard Ayahuasca as the Grandmother. Also known as “the Vine of the Souls,” Ayahuasca acts as a mediator and translator between the human and plant worlds and even teaches humans how to better communicate with plants and how to use them for various purposes. Ayahuasca is considered a communicating being who guides, teaches, and heals.

She will help you to realize what is truly important in your life, and she will show you what is not. Sometimes these can be wonderful revelations, and sometimes what is revealed can be difficult to face. But Ayahuasca hands us the key; it is our job to make the necessary changes, to put the key in the door and open it.

Unlock Your Potential and Explore Your Consciousness

If you are a person who is seeking growth or healing, get in touch with us today. Remember, out retreats are capped at 12 participants so we recommend you book ahead of time to guarantee your spot in the retreat.

Our experienced Ecuador shaman will lead you safely through your journey of personal growth and exploration with the ancient herbal medicine, ayahuasca.